M&A Activity Jumps As 3D Printing Market Hits Stride

The Next Big Thing in technology seems to be arriving almost everywhere: affordable electric cars, compact nuclear power plants, wearable computing devices ...

In manufacturing, the game-changing advance appears to be in devices called three-dimensional printers.

"Remember when we said there'd be a PC on every desktop? How about this — a factory on every desktop!" wrote Shanen Boettcher, manager of Microsoft's (MSFT) Startup Business Group, in a recent blog post.

Various items made by a 3D printer at RCBI Advanced Flexible Manufacturing in South Charleston, W.Va. 3D printer makers are rapidly increasing the... View Enlarged Image

Microsoft, Amazon (AMZN) and Staples (SPLS) are just a few of the big companies that recently jumped on the 3D printing train. Amazon and Staples retail the devices. Microsoft, at a developers' conference on June 26, said its new Windows 8.1 operating system, due out later this year, will support 3D printers.

Boettcher blogged that making 3D objects is as easy as printing a document. He noted some market analysts predict the global 3D printing market will reach $3.1 billion by 2016.

The smaller versions of the machines are similar to, but are not really desktop printers. Standard printers spit out 2D documents on paper. 3D printing, also known as additive printing, uses software as a blueprint to model real-world three-dimensional objects — any prototype or gewgaw the user is able to design.

There are several processes. Unlike laser cutters, which are widely used in manufacturing to cut patterns and sculpt objects, 3D printers place thin layers of materials such as plastic or metal one on top of another to build the object.

3D printers have been made possible by a well-developed and still rapidly advancing realm of computer-assisted design programs. The printers use a digital description of an item — precise height, depth, weight and width — along with color and shape specifications from such programs to bring objects to life.

Auto Industry Roots

Industrial 3D printers that sell for $1 million have been around since the mid-1980s. Automakers and other industries were among the early adopters, using the devices to make prototypes and experimental parts and for limited production runs.

"The largest companies that were struggling with manufacturing happened to be automotive," in the 1980s, 3D Systems (DDD) Chief Marketing Officer Cathy Lewis told IBD.

Founded in 1986, 3D printer maker 3D Systems almost from the first was a global company, Lewis said, because it sold to global industries. Today just over 50% of its revenue comes from outside the U.S., mainly Europe and Japan.

"But our greatest growth opportunity recently has been in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries. We are seeing a lot of growth and we continue to expand in those geographies."

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